An orchidist can add to his collection inexpensively if he can work with backbulbs and orchid rescues. There is no single method for sprouting backbulbs. The main ingredient is practice, practice, practice.

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Plants on EBay

I have no plants on eBay this week. The auction usually ends at 4pm PST on Saturday.

NOTE: many of the links and pictures have a popup that shows more when you hover the mouse over them.

What are orchid backbulbs?

Backbulbs are the older generations of growth that have been removed from an orchid. Often, when a plant is divided, older pseudobulbs are cut off to make the plant fit the pot better. These may be thrown away, but sometimes they are given as gifts to help a friend expand her collection, or sold when the plant is valuable.

That's what this blog and website are all about; being ready when that wonderful gift of a collectable backbulb comes your way. There is as much art as science in getting backbulbs started.

I subscribe to OrchidSpecies.com which is my primary source for orchid species information.

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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Laelia anceps sanderiana

The 2010-2011 blooming season has not been good for Laelia anceps flowers in my collection. There have only been a few that were big enough to bloom. I sold too many last year and most of the rest are still coming back from my aggressive division in 2009.

Laelia anceps grows well and blooms well in cultivation. It grows in Mexico and Honduras. It is warm to hot growing and needs a dry winter rest and bright light. If it is dry it can winter outside if there is no hard freeze.

I have been working over the past couple of weeks on getting all of those into bark. They are going to spend this year growing and it will be easier to control moisture level.

A construction project for this spring is for a covered area where Laelia anceps can grow outside and not get rained on. We have a good temperature range in Napa for growing Laelia anceps but our rain pattern is all wrong.

2 comments:

Holy cow, that is gorgeous! I am thinking of trying to mount some anceps directly on an oak tree and on my arbor. On our very few, very cold nights I would string christmas lights to keep them from freezing.